Description:
I am surprised that no one has posted this wonderful relic in Locating Tiki. Although there was nary a tiki to be found, throughout it's history, the Coco Palms was the epitome of the tiki spirit. Largely credited to one woman, Mrs. Grace Guslander, the Hotel and grounds captured the fantasy of Hawaii and Hawaiian culture that mid-century mainlanders expected; lots of color, vegetation, native materials (and natives for that matter) and fire and food and Elvis. The resort has been closed since being hit by Hurricane Iniki in 1992.

These were taken July 2008 while on my honeymoon. I made my Bridget go there twice (I had to go buy another SD card for my camera). I took more than 500 pics of Coco Plams and adjoining (abandoned) Seashell Restaurant pictured below.

Wow, what a great photo safari. James, somehow I missed this thread when you initially posted it. What an urban archeologist's wet dream! Naomi was ooohing and aaahing, too.

I was there in the late 90s, but the place was locked airtight, glad you got in somehow. Everybody, read up on this Poly pop temple in Jeff Berry's Sippin' Safari pages 78 to 81, you can see a Tridacna clam shell sink in use.

On 2009-01-05 16:07, bigbrotiki wrote:Great find, and nice link, too! I cannot help but point out again the utter lack of Tiki iconography, proving that the Tiki was mainly a mainland icon. Nevertheless, this was Hawaii as it should be!

Which leads me to this question. Were there alot of tikis on the grounds of the Coco Palms ? I would imagine so, back in it's heyday, but there don't seem to be any in the pix.

Either way, when you look at the building and it;'s decor it sure says "tiki".

Here is a note i received from the great Bob and LeRoy when I initially posted these pics. It answers the questions of why no tikis...

Aloha James:
Thanks for the wonderful photos of the Coco Palms. Grace Guslander visited our old Whittier shop and then she bought from us for many years. We supplied a lot of thatching, lighting, artifacts and the Rattan furniture. Vince Buono who was our partner in Oceanic Arts Hawaii for about 10 years still lives in Kapaa. The photos are great but sad for us and we remember it during it's best days and still have most of the brochures from the Coco Palms and letters from Grace.
Grace did not like Tiki's as the Coco Palms was built on much of the old sacred grounds. We note 3 tiki like items on a wall. These were images of the old Kauai House Posts which were dug up in an old dump in Kauai.
It was nice to "see" you again James of the Kahiki Moon.
Your friends,
Bob & LeRoy

I had seen these pictures before when they were first posted. And I'm glad you got to photograph this beautiful temple. I don't know about anyone else though, but Sven putting the "before" and "after" pictures right next to each other practically brought a tear to my eye. Like seeing a formerly beautiful Hollywood starlet in a nursing home. A sad ending.

On 2009-01-05 16:07, bigbrotiki wrote:Great find, and nice link, too! I cannot help but point out again the utter lack of Tiki iconography, proving that the Tiki was mainly a mainland icon. Nevertheless, this was Hawaii as it should be!

Which leads me to this question. Were there alot of tikis on the grounds of the Coco Palms ? I would imagine so, back in it's heyday, but there don't seem to be any in the pix.

Geez, Jim, what is it with you, you just can't take my theory of Tiki NOT being an island phenomenon as proven, you always have to play the doubting Thomas. Sorry, it's ironclad, and any exceptions merely prove the rule.